Christopher Lee Ball

Christopher would have ideally been a Hollywood director by his early twenties, but being as it was well before the Age of YouTube, and in need of something to pay the bills, he decided after university to delay his career in film by pursuing the slightly more reliable profession of web design. After years of working in the Internet and media, he's finally returning to his filmmaking roots.

The opportunity to direct the documentary was the product of a serendipitous conversation with website producer Abigail Murphy, who, upon learning about Christopher's interest in film and amateur directing experience, suggested he speak to director Susie Watson and producer Kathleen McLynn about joining the project to help architect the film's website.  At an early design meeting, Susie mentioned that the original "Making of" director had dropped out; Christopher jumped at the chance to take up the role, and the rest is, as they say, history.

As the Director of the documentary, Christopher is responsible for the overall look of the film, and, along with the editor, the chief architect of the story it tells.  His duties are to:

• Attend all production meetings and days on set to observe and capture the action
• Get to know and interview all major cast and crew about their expectations and experiences on the project
• Work with the producer and executive producer to create a shooting script and later a narrative timeline based on logged footage
• Direct the camera operator to capture footage based on a specific visual style
• Work closely with the production coordinator to ensure administrative, operational, and scheduling tasks don't get in the way of the creative drive
• Support the editor in piecing together mountains of footage to tell a coherent story

In addition to directing, Christopher is also producing the documentary, as well as volunteering as the architect for this website and the site for the main film.

The whole experience has been an epic return to those halcyon days of directing his sister.  Christopher has learned a lot through the process, and he looks forward to his next project, another documentary planned for late 2008 tentatively titled 'Bent Coppers'.

Christopher was born on 14 October, 1976 in Asheville, North Carolina.   At 18 he left for the bright lights of New York City to attend Columbia University, graduating in 1999 with a Bachelor's in English Literature and Art History.  In 2005, he moved to London to pursue his filmmaking career, picking up a Master's in Film Theory at University College London ('06) along the way.